NATURE NORTHWEST
INVENTORY & ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF NATURE-RELATED RECREATION IN NW MINNESOTA

Welcome to Nature Northwest, the planning guide for nature-based recreation in Northwest Minnesota. We hope that this guide is useful for planning your outdoor activities in Northwest Minnesota. If you have any suggestions or would like to report a malfunction with the site please send us an e-mail. A fully searchable database is still nearly complete. We are still adding data and verifying accuracy of our data, but you can search a large number of sites already. Please visit our other information pages and links to nature-based recreation sites in Northwest Minnesota.

Nature Northwest is a program jointly funded by a Veden Fellowship, awarded to Dr. John Loegering, the Northwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, and the Northwest Minnesota Foundation. The goals of the project are to develop an inventory, economic assessment, and guidebook of nature-related recreational opportunities in northwest Minnesota. The project boundaries follow the Red River of the North watershed boundary, but also includes a large portion of the Lake of the Woods region (see figure below).

Nature Northwest Sourcebook will be an inventory of nature-related recreation opportunities in NW Minnesota. The sourcebook will identify sites and sources of nature-based recreation and potential resources available to citizens and visitors.

A Birding Trail Visitors Survey was conducted to evalutate the success of the recent formation of the Pine to Prairie Birding Trail, which traverses the north-south gradient in NW Minnesota from Fergus Falls to Warroad, MN.

Nature Guide for NW Minnesota will be an educational booklet highlighting nature-based recreation. The nature guide is intended to inform and educate users about the wealth of resources available in NW Minnesota. The guide will feature lists of opportunities, maps, and photographs.

Importance to Northwest Minnesota Communities - Communities in Northwest Minnesota historically have depended on natural resources for their economic viability. In light of changing agricultural practices communities are searching to develop other sustainable rural economies. Services associated with tourisms represent one possible alternative. A comprehensive inventory of the resources available is one of the first steps. This project aims to build a foundation upon which future opportunities can be founded and evaluated.

Community Input has been important to the success of this project. Information and feedback meetings were held throughout the Nature Northwest region (see map) during March and April 2002. Thanks to excellent participation and great ideas we are now working hard on the first phase of this project, the inventory database. Thanks to all of those folks who have provided feedback, data, or suggestions.